Media Information

Convicting the Innocent – Presentation at Tacoma Campus, March 4

Written by Evergreen Communications Office on March 2, 2010 at 11:30 am

Convicting the Innocent: Why does it happen? How can we prevent it?

Exoneree Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, co-authors of the New York Times Bestseller, PICKING COTTON: OUR MEMOIR OF INJUSTICE AND REDEMPTION, will speak twice in Tacoma on Thursday, March 4th at 10 a.m. & 6 p.m. at The Evergreen State College Tacoma Campus, 1210 – 6th Ave. Both events are free and open to the public.

In 1984, Thompson-Cannino was raped at knifepoint by a man who broke into her apartment. She escaped and later identified Ronald Cotton as her attacker. He was convicted of the crime. But after 11 years in prison, a DNA test exonerated him.

Thompson-Cannino and Cotton met two years later, became friends and worked together to write a book about their experiences, “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.” They now travel the country talking with local communities about ways citizens, police and prosecutors can work together to prevent erroneous criminal convictions.

The Tacoma events are part of the 2010 Norm Maleng Integrity of Justice Speakers Series. Co-sponsors include The Integrity of Justice Project, The Evergreen State College - Tacoma Campus, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle University School of Law, University of Washington - Tacoma Diversity Resource Center, University of Washington - Tacoma Social Work Program/Minor in Criminal Justice, University of Puget Sound African American Studies Program, Pierce College, Bates Technical College, Tacoma Community College, the Black Collective, the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, The Conversation, Tacoma Urban League, and Catholic Community Services.

The Integrity of Justice Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public policy and community education program working in partnership with Washington’s law schools to identify and promote best practices that can help prevent erroneous criminal convictions.